The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1887-09-05
THE ASToR MILLIONS.
Old John Jacobs First Venture on
the Pacific.

Slu JOIN Jacobs rTSt venture on
the Pacific.
A correspondent of the New York Even
ing Post at Mackinac Island gives an inter
esting account of the rise and development
of the great Southwest Fur Company, the
great rival Of the HudsonS Bay Company.
"The John Jacob Astsr Hause, now hotel,
was the former headquarters and storehouse
of the American Fur Company, and, there is
much still to remind one of the time when it
was filled with bales of costly merchandise,
and streams of voyageurs trended hither,
each with pack of furs upon his back
while over all the agent ruled with powers
as despotc as those OF the car Of all the
Russias. What was the American Fur Com
pany? One might answer that it was John
Jacob Astor's first venture in fur, the corner
stone of colossal fortune. Its story, l
think has never been told. All the informa-
tion | could gather concerning it was from
the lips of old men and from the musty rec
ords of the company now in possession of
the hotel.
Astor was induced to organize it, no doubt,
by the enormous gains of the Hudson's Bay
Company and its great rival, the Northwest
Company. He founded it in 1909, in compe-
tition with small association of. fur traders
known as the Mackinac Company, which
had existed on the island for some years. In
two years time the earlier company was
glad to sell out to his rival, and Astor, buy
ing it, formed Of the two the Southwest Com
pany. For four years this company main
tanned profitable competition with its pow
erful neighbors, the Northwest and the Hud-
sons Bay Company, when Astor's great in
huence at Washington led Congress to enact
law that no foreigners who did not become
citizens should engage in trade with the In
dams. Having now in measure monopo-
ly of the American trade, Astor organized a
much more powerful corporation, which he
called the North American Fur Company,
and into which the old Southwest Company
was merged. 1t had a capital of $1,000. 900.
Its field OF operations stretched from New
York westward to the Rocky Mountains and
north to the Hudson's Bay Company's terri
tories; while its powers were not as large as
its more famous rivals, they still amounted
to a virtual monopoly Of the American fur
trade, and its profits were enormous. 1t was
as carefully organized, differed and disci-
plined as an army. The agent was comman-
dcr-ln-chlei, commlssary and quartermaster
general. The traders who collected the furs
and gave the companyS goods in exchange
were brlgadiers, colonies and captains. The
voyageurs or boatmen who attended the
traders formed the rank and file The Indi-
ans by whom the trapping was done were an
independent body, performing a vital ser
vice, but not amenable to the orders of the
commander-in-chief.
The traders received from $4OO to 5000 a
year, the poor v0yageurs barely $780, with a
few coarse articles of clothing The agent
mad autocratlc authority, and answered only
to the home office. The goods he needed for
the year were sent forward from New York
or Montreal or Quebec as soon as nayiga-
ton opened in the spring. Those from New
York came by the Great Lakes via Buffalo
and Detroit; those from Canada by way of
Ottawa, Lake Nipissing and French River.
They were nearly all summer reaching Mac
mac. In the fall great gathering of Indi-
ans, yoyageurs and traders took place on the
island. There were feasting drinking, dane
ing, quot and ball playing; the goods were
distributed, and on the conclusion of the
reyelry the braves loaded their years supply
on the backs of their squaws, and all dfsap-
peared IN the forest for the winters trap
ping. The furs, after being baled, were sent
TO the same ports for shipment.
Six of the record books of the company,
comprising ledgers, journals and letter
books, are now in possession of the hotel,
preserved as treasured relics. One could
| CLEAN from them the minuti& Of the whole
vast business, nor could repress a feeling
| OF admiration Tor the mental grasp and exec
| tive ability Of the man who directed it. This
| person was S. II. Brooks, as the name an.
| pears on the letter book. We have no ac-
count OF his life or death, but there is that in
the DOCKS which shows him to have been nc
! common character. He was a master OF
! good English as well as Of business details.
| There is vigor and terseness about his SEN
! fences positively refreshing in this age of in
ane and finicky writing"
In letter to Mr.. AStOr appears this speci-
| men of sage reasoning:
The French Canadians are indisnensahla
to the success OF the trade. Their places can
not be supplied by Americans, who are for
the most part too independent to submit to a
proper control, and who can gain a subsis-
tence much superior to that of men from the
interior; and although the body of the Yam
kee can resist as much hardship as any man.
1t is only in the Canadian we find that temper
OF mind which renders him patient, docile
and persevering., In short, they are peo-
pie harmless in themselves, and whose hab-
its Of submission fit them peculiarly for our
business, and If guided as / desire, need
never give just cause of alarm to the govern
ment of the Union"
March II, 1877 he writes Samuel Abbott at
Mackinac that the Southwest Company has
| been consolidated with the American by the
| purchase OF the Canada interest; that he has
become a stakeholder in the new company,
| and that he will proceed the next day to
Montreal as agent Of the American Fur Com
| pany to receive the assets of the old compa-
| ny. The first instalment of those assets, -
| he subsequently writes, was $4S, S0355. In
| other places we have lists of the articles pur-
chased to be bartered with the Indians for
| furs, or for the use of the men; twenty bar
rels OF flour at SIG each, twenty-five barrels
! OF pork at $25 each, one cwt. best pilot bread
ten barrels good prime pork, fourteen bush
els peas, ten barrels good merchantable
whiskey. twenty barrels high wines, good
proof, eighty kegs ditto, 1000 pounds bacon
and hams, four barrels bottled porter, two
barrels on draught, twenty kegs brown
crackers, bales of rope, leather shoes, coffee
mills, shoe thread, boat cables, padlocks,
silk thread, ribbons, sealing wax, plated but
TONS, wooden mittens, black cambria, etc.
| Tooth brushes. powder, shot, flints and wors-
| ted socks figure in the items.
Having heard and read so much of the COM
| pany was curious to meet one of the voy-
| ageurs or traders by whom its Operations
So. There is but one Of this class-La Lotto,
| a French voyageur, ninety-four years old
| now living on The island, and he is too old
| and infrm to speak much of the stirring
scenes in which he has been an actor. The
v0yageurs as a class were brave, hardy. pa
tient and submissive. On the other hand.
they were improyident and unambitious to a
degree. Their term of service was for five
years, and their yearly compensation 500.
At the end of the term they were pretty sure
/ to be from 500 to $50 in debt to the compa-
ny, and, as they could not leave the country
while it remained unpaid, they were glad to
bind themselves for another five wears, So
they threaded their native forests, and pad
died over their waters until old age came on,
if, indeed, tempest or forest casualty did not
make briefer their span Of life. The Hudson
Bay Company still lives, but the American
Company long ago ceased to exist. Mr.. As
tor sold out in 1884 to Ramsey Crooks, the
agent, and others, and without his capital,
business opportunities and influence at the
national capital, the business soon became
involved, and in 1S4S the corporation was
dissolved and its assets were disposed of